Programmatic For All Publishers; Alibaba's Answer To Black Friday

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

A Gentler SSP

The Wall Street Journal’s Mike Shields profiles publisher ad ops vendor Media Operative, and finds the company has made inroads with a new wave of programmatic-averse publishers by helping them mediate between sales channels. Its new customers include Vice Media, Vox Media and Refinery29. “We become like their air traffic control system, and they have all the control,” says Media Operative CEO Lorne Browne. The story concludes, “It remains to be seen whether all these newer digital players will be able to maintain their limited ad tech stance, and resist the urge to sell inventory on multiple ad exchanges as they grow.” It also remains to be seen whether those exchanges continue to support the impression resale activity that has given them a bad name in some circles. More.

Defending Price Floors

In response to an AdExchanger column by Varick Media SVP Jim Caruso that took a strong, pro-buyer stance on digital media-buying transparency, AppNexus SVP and GM Andy Atherton writes a blog post saying, “No, price floors are not fraud.” Atherton argues that there are plenty of inequities in the market. (After all, nobody says it’s wrong that buyers capitalize on their unique knowledge of users when a pub undervalues its own inventory.) The bottom line is “sellers should be free to use any and all (legal) tools available to them to manage their businesses in any way they think will meet their business objectives. Buyers are free to change bidding strategy, negotiate special terms or look elsewhere if economics on a transaction don’t work for them.”

When A Single Is A Home Run

Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Amazon Prime Day? Pshaw. Singles’ Day in China was responsible for more than $14.3 billion in sales on Alibaba’s consumer shopping sites on Wednesday, reports Bloomberg News. That’s a 57% increase over last year. For a little perspective: Cyber Monday, which shattered online shopping records in the US, hit $2 billion in 2014. Singles’ Day – so named because it falls on 11/11, a date comprised entirely of ones – was trademarked by Alibaba in 2012, and company Chairman Jack Ma has big plans to globalize the event in the future. More.

Omnichannel Viewability

Google has upgraded its Active View viewability reporting tools to support mobile apps in DoubleClick for Publishers and on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Product manager Ari Feldman writes in a blog post, “This new measurement solution completes the picture for publishers helping them see how viewability plays out across all of their properties.” Read it.

But Wait, There’s More!